"The Last Great Epic Poem in the English Language"
- Dale Ahlquist
"The ending is absurd. The brilliant smash and glitter of the words and phrases (when they come off, and are not mere loud colours) cannot disguise the fact that G. K. C. knew nothing whatever about the 'North', heathen or Christian."
- JRR Tolkien
The tale of King Alfred, the Christian king who in 878AD battled a Viking invasion that had conquered the rest of England and burnt some cakes. He then became the last holdout of resistance against the invaders and forced the conversion of the Danish king Guthrum to Christianity after the battle of Ethandun. Chesterton says "This ballad needs no historical notes, for the simple reason that it does not profess to be historical. All of it that is not frankly fictitious, as in any prose romance about the past, is meant to emphasize tradition rather than history. That is the use of tradition: it telescopes history."
Named after the chalk horses carved into English hills (and partly set at Uffington), it begins with an exhortation to true Christianity in the face of despair and defeat, and ends with a prediction of more barbarian invasions. It focuses on the nature of faith in times of despair, and on the true strength of local kings in the face of empires.
"... you and all the kind of Christ
Are ignorant and brave,
And you have wars you hardly win
And souls you hardly save.
...
"In some far century, sad and slow,
I have a vision, and I know
The heathen shall return.
...
"They shall come mild as monkish clerks,
With many a scroll and pen;
And backward shall ye turn and gaze,
Desiring one of Alfred's days,
When pagans still were men."
